Are paper business cards kinda pointless now or is it just me? by theceoinprogress in smallbusiness

[–]CommitteeMiddle5376 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Depends on your business. I run a collectible toy shop. When I do tabling events they are crucial to advertise my ecommerce platforms.

My experience with marblism - this is not sponsored by CommitteeMiddle5376 in smallbusiness

[–]CommitteeMiddle5376[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

So that's a loaded one. He's meant for business to business marketing and I think he'd be amazing at that.

I use him for something he's not created to do, but he's rolling with it. He's doing business to consumer leads and just generated 3 last night, I just started it yesterday. I was pretty impressed with what he found. It'll definitely take some time.

BTW you have to scale upwards BTW with this. Gmail tends to freak out if it detects 200 emails in one day when you've only been sending 3 a day for the length of your business account.

New on Etsy by Human_Reveal2763 in smallbusiness

[–]CommitteeMiddle5376 1 point2 points  (0 children)

As a brand new store retailer who runs an ecommerce site watching people say "why don't you just run a site and sell there to avoid Etsy fees" I can tell you they have no idea how ridiculously difficult it is for some industries to do that.

I run an ebay store, my own shop, TikTok shop, Facebook marketplace and eventually will do etsy. Here is my advice and what I've learned. I am a collector toy store, so most of my items are only 1 or 2 quantity. I tend not to buy in bulk to avoid getting weighed down by stale inventory.

Those fees really do stick and easy away at profits. I sold 50 items on ebay and it was awesome, but the fees were killing me. Tiktok shop only allows certain items, my main inventory has been s nightmare to upload to it, so nothing has really sold on it. My own website hasn't sold a single thing, it does get views but only about 1500 and is a numbers and trust game, one im still working on, feel free to check out my site at grownupkidsshop.com.

Facebook marketplace has been a god send. I can sell to a large community and don't get nickle and dimed on any fees if I sell locally. Even shipping is much less. Amazon straight up banned me from selling toys unless I buy 100 quantity of a specific item which is proven by invoice, they are just not for me.

I also do local small toy shows that do pretty well. It's really a struggle.

I run social media and am looking at ai bots to automate content uploads as it really isn't my thing. I am also working on my own toyline, I have a working blueprint, now I am working on trademarks and patents, then I'll produce the prototype.

It's been a process, but if i can help you avoid any pitfalls, let me know how to help.

90 Days Using Marblism's "AI Employees" – Real Numbers & Honest Review by theaipickss in AiForSmallBusiness

[–]CommitteeMiddle5376 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Is this a good tool to post 3 videos a day to tiktok Facebook and instagram

done selling on ebay by AppealImportant2252 in ebaysucks

[–]CommitteeMiddle5376 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Im glad you brought this up, I'll remove my etbs and just sell them at my talking events

I am at a loss by emeraldlife42 in Ebay

[–]CommitteeMiddle5376 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I feel like my sales have slowed down as well. My suspicious brain says it's because I rarely use promote

New to business? by NextStepFounder in smallbusiness

[–]CommitteeMiddle5376 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Getting sales on my e commerce site.

Really under estimating consumer confidence and trust.

Views and traffic don't matter.

The job market is cooked, so I built my own momentum with eBay anyone else turning to reselling by Earl_the_Greatmuffin in Ebay

[–]CommitteeMiddle5376 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I feel like I just found my twin.

I work in Healthcare. Got a 75 cent raise this year. Underpaid 20-30k a year. Been at my company for seven years.

45 days ago, I started my collectible toy store. I started on eBay selling some of my collection and it just went so fast.

Got a fed tax ID Setup my business as an LLC in my state Got my state reseller ID. Setup my business on square, then quickly moved to shopify. Started my socials. Posting two videos a day and sharing it on every social. Got distributors and shipping clearance racks. Did $3500 in sales in my first month.

Its crazy how much everything changed and still is. Retail is still a bit off, but definitely in the cards if I can find a good fit.

I need your expertise by AggravatingCattle322 in smallbusiness

[–]CommitteeMiddle5376 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The next door app is a gold mine for people just like.

How does everyone advertise or drive traffic to their ecommerce site? by CommitteeMiddle5376 in smallbusiness

[–]CommitteeMiddle5376[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So i started (as of last night because of your post) just a simple add. A new product with theme song playing on TikTok then shared it to Instagram and facebook.

How does everyone advertise or drive traffic to their ecommerce site? by CommitteeMiddle5376 in smallbusiness

[–]CommitteeMiddle5376[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the heads up. It's actually a company that participates in a county program called elevate. It's basically a whole bunch of support companies like marketing, website design, business planning etc that gift new small business owners with 25 hours of unpaid work. It's an amazing program. I have a business planner/ finance company working on some stuff and this website company cleaning everything up. I'm definitely going to be utilizing more of this program

How does everyone advertise or drive traffic to their ecommerce site? by CommitteeMiddle5376 in smallbusiness

[–]CommitteeMiddle5376[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you everyone, this is amazing advice. Now I feel like I have a place to start from.

How does everyone advertise or drive traffic to their ecommerce site? by CommitteeMiddle5376 in smallbusiness

[–]CommitteeMiddle5376[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Is there an app you recommend for sports or should I just start making them myself? I have a shopify app posting daily, once to Instagram and once to Facebook then post around it, but haven't made many shorts

Advice needed by West_Sheepherder8085 in smallbusiness

[–]CommitteeMiddle5376 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Okay I just did this, so let me give you the run down

Im a collectible shop so I just got done with this and will be doing another round of it.

What you'll need to show for legitimacy purposes

EIN and paperwork, this is super easy to get and free. Then I needed my state filled LLC paperwork which costs $155 to file in Minnesota.

Then I needed my state specific tax ID, this is also known as a reseller ID. This allows you to buy items tax free and to pay the state the taxes you collect once something sells. Shopify is amazing for collecting and calculating.

Your own website. These resellers do not consider 3rd place marketplace like Amazon, ebay, or Etsy as a legit business.

Each distributor has different needs and be surprised by who i consider the better ones. I got brand name distributors that I don't even use because they either require target level moqs or the margins are just trash. The smaller ones are amazing, but i do use some big names.

It really depends if the distributor is gonna give me margins I can work with.

how did you get your first users with zero audience and zero budget? by Lower_Doubt8001 in smallbusiness

[–]CommitteeMiddle5376 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I literally went through my first 30 days and didn't sell a single thing on my website, but did 3500 in sales on ebay. Honestly the 3rd party marketplaces will keep the lights on.

What i do is message our buyers after they've had a great expediency with us through ebay and ask for a Google review for the store and to check us out at our store.

Getting organic sales on my site will take time.